Innocence
by Hulio
Summary: Imprisoned in Azkaban, life is terrible. A story in which Sirius Black comes to the decision that he needs to break out.


He could feel the temperature plummeting and was shivering uncontrollably, yet he welcomed this cold like an old friend, he would greet it with open arms, for he knew this sad and empty feeling that came along with the cold too well. The dementors approached his cell, but unlike all the other convicts he wouldn't back away, he stood and faced them for he deserved what they brought. _It's my fault they're dead, _he would tell himself,_ my entire fault._ He screamed not out of pain or sadness but of furry, shouting at the foul creatures to give him their worst.

Their worst they gave him, it felt as if most of their time was spent with him rather than the others, they feed on his positive emotion, happiness and good memories. One would think that with all the time they spent together he would be reduced to something as evil and soulless as the dementor itself, however two things kept him going. **A promise** that he had made to his best friend twelve years ago, he swore to protect his only son if something were to happen to him and his wife. **And innocence**, it had been his imprisonment that caused him to blame their deaths on himself, but deep down inside he knew this was wrong, if his either of his friends had heard this they would have laughed, later threatening that if he ever thought that again they would hex him into next week. Deep down inside, he knew he was innocent and that the guilty man still ran free.

Happiness bloomed inside of him every time he thought of his best friends, although these soul-sucking creatures would have no happiness in their dark, filthy prison and stole away his euphoria as soon as it came, leaving him with only his worst memories.

_They were the best of friends, The Marauders they called themselves, young and careless, although they treasured each other's friendship. Prongs the brave and strong one, Padfoot the jokester, Wormtail the shy one and Moony the smart one with a furry little problem. He had been stupid and angry, so on the night when the moon was full, when Snape had no chance, he lured him out of the castle, well aware of the dangers that were about that night. He regretted it the moment the wolf spotted Snape and did his best to save him. _

_His friends were furious with him, he felt as if that argument would've been the very last conversation the four marauders shared together. They came around eventually, after much begging and pleading, soon came forgiveness. Truthfully, they had missed their Padfoot, it wouldn't have been the Marauders without him. He was never told. _

He laughed mischievously, _no, _he thought,_ this memory is not the worst, it proves that we the Marauders stick together no matter what, I was forgiven. _The dementors wouldn't succeed in taking away his happiness, he wouldn't let them. This moment had only left him feeling proud of the trust the four boys shared.

They fought back harder the second time around and he could feel the happiness leaving his body, being willingly replaced by sadness, he had tried fighting it, convincing himself that they were the Marauders, no matter what they did they remained friend forever. The effects were worse, so he gave in, letting the anguish fill his body as another bad memory resurfaced.

_No matter his action he really did truly love her and could never be able to hurt her. He did what he always did, flirted with the other girls in her year and made her jealous, he would tease her and she would tease him back. It was a game of cat and mouse; she had him on a string, hanging off of her every word. Then he would catch her snogging or worse to another guy, he shrugged it off though secretly it killed him inside. _

_He could have been imagining it, however every time she would see him with another girl she became jealous. It was a long and tiring game of cat and mouse, finally they called it a draw. Fights happened, probably more often than with other couples but no matter what they did they always ended up back together. _

_After a while the game was forgotten and he could feel himself falling in love with her. She however thought different, thought he was still playing the game, in it to win it, and refused to accept his love. He begged her not to leave him, pleaded, he was down on his knees. She did go though, claimed that the game was over, he had won after all. But it really hadn't been about winning the game, it was never about winning the game, he just wanted her for who she was, the game just came along in the package. It didn't matter anyway, he watched her fall in love with another man as they worked alongside each other. One would say he never truly gave up on her, he would over exaggerate and do things just to out shine her love and impress her. To him it never seemed to work, although he never did see the smile that grew on her face when he turned his back or the laugh that she always tried to hide. He never noticed that the way she looked at her love was not even close to the way she looked at him, an innocent bystander would've been able to tell that this couple was in love from miles away, though both partners thought the other had moved on, no happy ending. _

A small tear rolled down his cheek and he watched it splatter into millions of pieces upon hitting the ground. He hoped, while cowering in his cell, that they would leave him alone now, but the soulless creatures that guarded the awful place weren't finished with him yet, and caused him to relive the worst memory of them all. It had been the one he had tried to forget but never could, the reason he was here, the reason the love of his life forgot about him, it was the reason for everything.

"_Padfoot!" cried the smartest one of the four as he burst through the door into his flat "Padfoot where are you?" _

_He ran into the hall where his friend now stood, tear still streaming down his face "Moony, tell me it's not true..." No answer, although he didn't need one, his friends silence told him everything and he collapsed onto the cold ground once more. His best friend, a brother to him, dead along with his wife, more than a sister than his real ones, died to protect their son,__** his godson,**__ who would now live the rest of his life without his parents, __**his best friends**__. _

_Moony stepped back, retrieving his wand from his pocket, taking aback a little "Padfoot" he whispered "How could you?" _

"_Moony, what are you talking about..." _

"_You were the secret keeper Pads, you told you-know-who where they were hiding... YOU KILLED THEM" he screamed, tears now falling from his eyes as well, "They're coming for you." More tears streamed down his face and his best mate pleaded_

_"Moony, I- I didn't do it, they changed their secre-" _

"_Oh please!" he cried, casting a spell to bind his former friend "You were always jealous of James!" _

_"I didn't do it... I swear on the Marauder's code" _

_"Your promise means nothing, there is no Marauder's code, the Marauders are no more" _

_Sirius stared in shock at his mate, "Moony what are you saying?" he croaked _

_"James is dead!" he retorted "You killed him! We swore to always protect each other, you betrayed him, you betrayed us all. You killed the Marauders"_

_"I didn't, Peter, they changed the secret keeper at the last minute" _

_"Why in the world would they do that! And if they did how would you know who it was anyway!"_

_"Because I suggested it" he whispered "I forced it upon them because everyone would've suspected me to be their secret keeper" _

_Remus froze, and slowly his wand arm dropped, "Pads..." he started however never finished.  
_

_The Aurors knew where he lived, having been one himself, and were there not long after Moony had arrived. He didn't have time... no time to say goodbye to his best mate and his wife, no more time to spend with friends, no time to convince his true love that he would forever be the only one he loved, no time to run. No time he thought._

_He pleaded and told them he was innocent as they pulled him to his feet, no one believed him though. Remus stood, frozen in his spot as he witnessed the wrong man being carted off to Azkaban for the murder of his best friend, a murder that Sirius didn't commit, a murder in which the real criminal would never be caught for he was gone now. _

They were leaving him, he felt the temperature start to warm, he was alone. Tears fell from his eyes, he hadn't been aware of it but the dementors had left him for he had unknowingly turned into his animagi form. His thoughts were too simple and they could no longer sense his happy emotion, causing them to move onto their next victim.

He would hear screams at night from the others, sometimes when he hadn't been visited in a while others would congratulate him for the crime he never committed. When others were added to the prison no one would walk by his cell, for all were too afraid, he was thought to be an evil man. During the time when he was not visited, he couldn't help wonder what had happened to his best mates son, **his godson, **and he couldn't help but feel the pain he must be feeling was all his fault.

"Sirius Black" someone spoke "Well, look at you." He raised his head and realized the newly convicted prisoner was speaking to him. "You're the man I looked up to after I heard you betrayed your best friends, everyone thought you were a goner the moment you were sorted into Gryfindore you sure showed us"

Sirius groaned, he didn't want to speak to anyone, especially someone who also believes him to be guilty "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, Travers is the name,"

He didn't like the tone the man spoke with, his tone was happy and proud. He was proud to be here, to have served the dark lord, proud to have helped him in his ultimate goal to put everyone in their place. He stood up and faced the man in the opposite cell and prayed death had not taken one of his friends "What are you in for Travers?"

"Murder," to which Sirius groaned in displeasure, even though he was well aware that Travers had killed recently. "Killed the McKinnons"

His heart sank, "A-all of t-them?"

Travers smirked, a smirk that confirmed what he wished to be untrue. He wished Travers to be lying, but it wasn't a lie. Travers' story was the talk of all prisoners the next morning. Travers told the story about how he had killed all five McKinnons, with his head held high.

"The father and mother were first to go, not putting up much of a fight, her youngest sister who I put under the imperius curse, killed her own brother then I finished her off. I made sure that the Auror, Marlene McKinnon watched her family die before her eyes. She put up a good fight but I managed to kick her wand out of her hand and tie her down. She lay helplessly on the ground not able to move and pleaded that I spare her family and take her instead. I then turned to her and told her not to beg for death, for she would be killed after her family. Once I finished off her family I turned to her and notice she had managed to retrieve a wand. She was the hardest to kill, put up a fight but because she was vulnerable I was able to disarm her. I tortured her until she practically begged for death; before I killed her off however, she said she still had something to live for. I laughed and asked her what; she needed to tell her true love that she never cared for that silly game, I didn't spare her however and death took her just like the rest of her family."

The other convicts laughed at how pathetic this was, they laughed because they didn't know what true love felt like. He couldn't help but think they had laughed because they were jealous.

The story of her death haunted him for what felt like years, this was his fault; if he had not been in Azkaban he would have been able to protect her. He had promised to never leave her, but was forced too. He had promised Prongs, as his son's godfather he would protect him and never leave him, but he couldn't do that while imprisoned.

It was then he decided that, if he wanted his best mate to forgive him, he was going to need to break out, Harry was the last bit of Prongs and Flower left in the world, he could not sit back and watch him die like he did with the others.

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**- Hulio  
**


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